General Tso’s Chicken

It wasn’t until the last few years that I really have started to embrace Asian cuisine. I’ve had a lot of firsts, including sushi, and the different flavors and dishes have definitely grown on me. Most college kids rely on Chinese take out to get them through cram sessions and heartache, but I was always more of a pizza girl. I leaned on Domino’s. I, of course, had tried Chinese before, but was never crazy about it. All of that changed when I started spending time at my Chief Culinary Consultant’s. When he first mentioned ordering Chinese and I said that I hadn’t ever found something I really liked, he said I had to get General Tso’s, and that I would love it. He knows me all too well, because I absolutely adored it. Between the crunchy, battered chicken, the thick sauce, and the generous amount of spice, I was completely smitten. It soon became my favorite take out option, and I found myself craving it. We had talked about trying to make it at home, but until now I hadn’t found a recipe that I thought sounded authentic enough. I’m thrilled to have found this one; I think we might be cooking in Chinese more often than we order it out now!

I was most worried about the chicken breading having that characteristic thick, crunchy coating that is so typical of General Tso’s. That was definitely achieved, thanks to including just a little bit of the marinade in the dry batter ingredients. Genius! Everything else came together perfectly. As I cooked the sauce, I couldn’t believe how absolutely identical it smelled to the General Tso’s sauce I have come to know and love. Once everything was finished and we dug in, we hardly spoke a word, except to grunt and groan about how phenomenal the food was. And how much it really did taste like General Tso’s. Easily one of the best dinners I’ve made in the last year or so. Top 3, for sure. It’s going into the permanent rotation and very likely will replace many a take out meal for us.

Directions:

1. To make the marinade, whisk the hoisin sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and water in a bowl. Of this mixture, place 6 tablespoons into a zip lock storage bag and add the chicken; seal and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Set aside the remaining marinade in the bowl.

2. While the chicken is chilling in the marinade, heat the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Sauté the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes until fragrant. Add 2 cups of the hoisin marinade to the skillet and simmer, whisking constantly, until the mixture is dark brown and thickened. Remove from heat, cover and keep the sauce warm.

3. To prepare the chicken for coating and frying, whisk the egg whites in a shallow dish until foamy; set aside. Combine the cornstarch, flour, baking soda, and remaining hoisin marinade in a second shallow dish; mix until it resembles coarse meal.

4. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and from the marinade. Pat the marinated chicken dry with paper towels. Toss half the chicken into the foamy egg whites until well coated, then dredge the chicken in the cornstarch mixture, pressing to adhere. Transfer the coated chicken to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.

5. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat until the oil registers 350 degrees. Fry half the chicken until golden brown, about 3 minutes, turning each piece halfway through cooking. Transfer the cooked chicken onto a paper towel lined plate to drain. Return the oil to 350 degrees before frying again. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

6. Warm the sauce over medium heat until simmering. Turn off the heat and add the fried chicken pieces. Toss to coat and serve.

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61 Responses to “General Tso’s Chicken”

General Tso’s Chicken is definitely a favorite of mine. I’ve made several versions, but never a deep-fried version. I try to be a healthy person most of the time but I am definitely going to splurge a bit and deep fry these babies!

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this because most recipes that I have seen appear as though the sauce is very sweet, this one looks spot on to the one that I have always had. Very excited to make this!

This recipe sounds great, I can’t wait to try it. Do you have any recommendations for what to serve with it? Rice for sure, but I always feel a little bad for making a meal that’s all carbs and protein and no vegetables. Any suggestions for a suitable vegetable side-dish?

Um – looking at a recipe for Hoisan sauce – that’s where the main heat comes from. Maybe I could just make a milder version of hoisan sauce. I’ll play with it and see how it works out. I loveeeeeeeeee General Chicken.

Hi Georgia, The hoisin sauce that I used didn’t really have any spice, it was sweeter. I would check some different brands and read the labels – mine didn’t have anything spicy in it. I would say on a scale from 1 to 10, this was probably a 3 or a 4 on the spicy meter. If you don’t like spicy, I would reduce or omit the red pepper flakes.

Ok – I’ll read labels on the ready to buy hoisan sauce. When I googled hoisan sauce, the recipes had peppers/sauces in the sauce to make it hot. I once told PF Chang’s that I wanted mild Gen Chicken and it was almost white with just a tinge of specks of red.

My BF loves General Tso’s chicken but has been a little disappointed the last few times he ordered it out. It has put me on the mission to find a great at home recipe for it. This one looks like a winner.

thanks for this recipe and not for the suspected reason (though it DOES look delicious and I may try it when my younger son isn’t home).

GINGER! *smacks forehead* I bet that’s what causes his mysterious allergic reactions! But ….. (sorry, on a tangent here), I wouldn’t think there was Ginger in sesame seeded breads or Goldfish crackers. Can you by any chance email me what ingredients are in the hoisin sauce?

Hi Jenn, I think the ingredients vary by brand – when shopping the Asian aisle at the grocery store and comparing them, some sauces had plums, while some had molasses. They weren’t completely consistent. I already used up my jar and threw it away, or I would have included the ingredients for you. I would take a spin through the international aisle and pick up a couple of jars and check out the ingredients.

I don’t usually indulge in fake Chinese food since there’s always the real stuff to be had but there are times when you just crave the bastardized American versions… And then I feel bad about it but it’s always tasty going down. It’s such a double edged sword.

Michelle – You did it again! This was a fantastic recipe. My husband and I loved this meal and I managed to make it somewhat weight watchers friendly! I even made a mistake (life with a one year old will do that) and made the marinade with the garlic, ginger, oil, and red pepper flakes! Next time I will be sure to read the recipe 3 times! I’m making the cashew chicken on Sunday for friends, I bet it will be just as fantastic!

OMG – Thankyou so much for this recipe. I live in Australia and General Tso’s Chicken is not something that I am familiar with (it’s not on the menu at our Chinese takeaways), however when I saw this recipe I just had to make it. I’m not sure what the original tastes like, but this one was amazing, and my entire family loved it. I love your site and have tried several of your recipes. Keep up the great work

I made this dinner with the help of my son. Next time we will double the sauce. My son said “we could put that sauce on DIRT and it would taste GOOD! A lot of steps but it should get easier next time..

Made this today, it was great! I didn’t have any hoisin sauce, but the internet was gracious enough to find me a substitute recipe. The breading process was something I wasn’t used to, but it paid off with that nice crunch I’ve been trying to find. Thanks for putting this up!

Michelle, I made this tonight and it was delicious! I don’t usually fry anything so it was a bit of a change. I didn’t have any hoisin sauce so I made it from scratch and added sriracha sauce to it and it gave it a nice level of heat. Thanks for posting this, definitely a keeper!

Hello,
I just wanted to thank you for posting this recipe. I recently discovered your blog and I must say, I love it! I tried this particular recipe last night. My boyfriend very much enjoyed it. This was my first try ever at Chinese food, I think i did pretty well. So anyway, thanks again. I have my eye on those crab cakes for my next food adventure.

Just made this on Friday with some white rice and steamed broccoli. It turned out great! I was so amazed that I was able to make something that looks just like Chinese take-out but from scratch! It was extremely tasty and my boyfriend had to go back for seconds. Awesome

This recipe was absolutely AMAZING!! I made it last night for dinner and just finished eating the left over’s for lunch and I am sad, no more I added broccoli to the recipe and used a frying pan, instead of a dutch oven. Delish, thank you so much for sharing.

I made this and it was delicious! However, to make it just a bit healthier, I skipped the deep frying and just cooked the chicken in a skillet after rolling it in the cornstarch. It was great! Thanks for this recipe
!